Getting to Positive Outcomes for Children in Child Care: A Summary of Two Workshops (Washington, DC, September 27-28, 1999, and February 28-29, 2000).

National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council, Washington, DC. Board on Children and Families.

In response to a request from the Child Care Bureau of the Administration for Children and Families, the Board on Children, Youth, and Families convened two workshops in 1999-2000 to review current and emerging efforts to establish performance measures for early childhood programs. At each workshop, experts in child development, child care, early intervention, program evaluation, performance measurement, statistics, and public policy and administration examined lessons from performance measurement initiatives in other policy areas. Participants also considered criteria for developing performance measures for child care. This report highlights key issues and viewpoints that emerged from the workshop discussions. Following an introductory chapter defining child care, performance measures, benchmarks, and indicators, chapter 2 of the report provides an overview of the workshops, summarizing the key issues addressed, the themes that emerged from the discussions, and participants' ideas for next steps. Themes discussed include involving stakeholders, selecting outcomes, working with children with special needs, cultural diversity, and school-age child care. Chapter 3 provides lessons learned from the policy domains of child and maternal health, youth programs, and social services that have implemented performance measures. Chapter 4 provides capsule summaries of selected presentations that detailed experiences with performance measurement and indicators at national and state levels, including Head Start performance standards. The report's two appendices list the workshop agendas and participants. (Contains 27 references.) (KB)